Application
This unit describes the skills and knowledge to support clients to identify and work though concerns, and to manage the overall counselling process to its conclusion.
This unit applies to individuals whose job role involves working with clients on personal and psychological issues within established policies, procedures and guidelines.
The skills in this unit must be applied in accordance with Commonwealth and State/Territory legislation, Australian/New Zealand Standards and industry codes of practice.
Elements and Performance Criteria
ELEMENT | PERFORMANCE CRITERIA |
Elements define the essential outcomes | Performance criteria describe the performance needed to demonstrate achievement of the element. |
1. Support clients to identify concerns | 1.1 Follow the client’s story and stay with their perspective to assist the client to feel comfortable and express their concerns freely 1.2 Explore the client’s presenting issues and establish their nature and depth, giving attention to the possibility of underlying issues 1.3 Identify and promptly deal with situations requiring immediate action 1.4 Support clients to identify their primary concerns in relation to the presenting issues and to prioritise concerns on which to work 1.5 Recognise indicators of client issues requiring referral and report or refer appropriately in line with organisation requirements |
2. Support clients to work through concerns | 2.1 Identify and work with uncertainty and ambivalence of clients 2.2 Support clients to experience and process difficulties 2.3 Draw attention to, and discuss parallels and links in client’s experience as appropriate 2.4 Identify and implement interventions that have meaning for the client’s immediate situation and that are most likely to facilitate client understanding and actions 2.5 Support client to identify and use known and previously unknown strengths 2.6 Explore perceptions of client’s feelings by reflecting back, clarification and review 2.7 Assist clients to become aware of underlying issues where appropriate and begin to identify ways of dealing with them 2.8 Acknowledge and work with changes in client’s life as appropriate |
3. Monitor the counselling process | 3.1 Monitor and review the counselling process with clients to ensure it remains of value 3.2 Proactively identify and work on threats and disruptions to the counselling process with clients 3.3 Review and compare own and client’s perceptions of the process and provide suggestions and advice in response 3.4 Address any tension between client’s hopes and expectations and the reality of resource limitations 3.5 Facilitate change at a pace the client can tolerate and assimilate 3.6 Recognise and assess the appropriateness of ending the current counselling 3.7 Acknowledge, value and work with individual uncertainty in the counselling relationship 3.8 Apply ethical codes of conduct in addressing counselling dilemmas |
4. Bring the counselling process to an end | 4.1 Enable client to identify when the process is approaching its conclusion 4.2 Enable client to identify, acknowledge and evaluate what is and is not changing, both in the counselling process and in their situation and understanding 4.3 Use the ending process to enable client to understand the nature and impact of earlier issues 4.4 Use boundaries of the counselling relationship to assist the ending process 4.5 Plan, structure and contract endings appropriately with client 4.6 Support client’s sense of autonomy during the ending process 4.7 Inform clients about any opportunities for further support 4.8 Identify unresolved issues and discuss further work if appropriate 4.9 Complete documentation and reporting according to organisation requirements |
Evidence of Performance
The candidate must show evidence of the ability to complete tasks outlined in elements and performance criteria of this unit, manage tasks and manage contingencies in the context of the job role. There must be evidence that the candidate has:
facilitated the counselling process for at least 3 different clients with varying presenting issues, in at least 3 sessions per client
facilitated client sessions using all aspects of the counselling process:
identifying concerns
working through concerns
monitoring the counselling relationship
followed processes to bring the counselling process to an end on at least 2 occasions.
Evidence of Knowledge
The candidate must be able to demonstrate essential knowledge required to effectively complete tasks outlined in elements and performance criteria of this unit, manage tasks and manage contingencies in the context of the work role. This includes knowledge of:
legal and ethical considerations for the counselling relationship, and how these are applied in individual practice:
codes of conduct/practice
discrimination
duty of care
human rights
mandatory reporting
practitioner/client boundaries
privacy, confidentiality and disclosure
records management
rights and responsibilities of workers, employers and clients
work role boundaries – responsibilities and limitations
work health and safety
different agency and organisation models of counselling and intervention
the counselling process, including:
what clients have a right to expect
principles of person-centred practice
purpose of counselling
how counselling has evolved as a helping relationship
place of counselling within the helping services
scope and nature of the counselling relationship, including professional limitations
impact of own values on the counselling relationship
obstacles to the counselling process, including:
psychological
physical
economic
indicators of needs requiring referral, and referral options
structure of key stages of a counselling session, and techniques for managing each stage, including:
introduction and establishment of relationship
body (getting the client’s story)
issues identification and exploration
options and plan for change
session closure
self-awareness including:
role within the organisation
limits of competence and responsibility
personal strengths and limitations
individual needs for support and supervision
impact of own values and beliefs on capacity to be non-judgemental.
Assessment Conditions
Skills must have been demonstrated in the workplace or in a simulated environment that reflects workplace conditions. The following conditions must be met for this unit:
use of suitable facilities, equipment and resources, including client information
modelling of industry operating conditions, including:
scenarios that involve complex interactions with real people in face-to-face situations where candidate and client are physically present in the same room
scenarios that involve problem solving.
Assessors must satisfy the Standards for Registered Training Organisations (RTOs) 2015/AQTF mandatory competency requirements for assessors.
In addition, assessors must have 2 years experience working in a counselling role and hold a qualification in counselling or related field that involves counselling, at Diploma level or higher (or equivalent qualification).
Foundation Skills
The Foundation Skills describe those required skills (language, literacy, numeracy and employment skills) that are essential to performance.
Foundation skills essential to performance are explicit in the performance criteria of this unit of competency.